Becirovic comments on the verdict for Karadzic

Dr Zijad Becirovic, Director of International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana, says that the verdict for war criminal Radovan Karadzic is important for BiH, yet it is no less important for the world because it shows the position of the civilization towards crime and criminals.

- 10 of 11 charges have been confirmed. Genocide in 7 municipalities can be confirmed in the appeals procedure. What is important is that the genocide is confirmed as well as Karadzic's participation in joint criminal enterprises (JCE).  This way, a strong message has been sent to the international community. Overarching JCE has been proved i.e. that Karadzic's political leadership had a plan to permanently remove Bosniaks and Croats within the areas they considered 'theirs'. And probably most important is that, when ICTY court proceedings are finalized, to eliminate consequences of the committed crimes and genocide which will open a number of questions, one of those being internal structure of BiH that was formed as a consequence of war crimes and genocide, says Becirovic.

Karadzic was convicted and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment, while numerous survived victims and families of victims remain displeased with the verdict because Karadzic was acquitted of genocide in 7 other municipalities in which mass graves were found witnessing mass killings of Bosniaks and Croats in Prijedor, Kljuc, Sanski Most, Vlasenica, Foca, Zvornik and Bratunac.